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We provide links to articles we think will be of interest to our supporters. We are sympathetic to much of the content of what we post, but not to everything. The fact that something has been linked to here does not necessarily mean that we endorse the views expressed in it._____________________

Jerusalem Day is a modern creation made for young Israeli men for whom the conquest of the ’67 war and occupation of all Jerusalem and the West Bank is the country they identify with. This year it was explicit in celebrating the racist desires of Meir Kahane which they believe they are consummating.

A lone gunman shot several people at the Jewish museum in Brussels, of whom four died. A lone gunman shot several people at or near the Jewish community centre in Kansas three of whom have died. One event caused hysteria; the other was normal for America. Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust, assessing real dangers, comments.

UPDATE: French suspect with Syrian links arrested. Plus Richard Silverstein and Amir Oren look at the backgrounds of those shot dead in Brussels’ Jewish museum and the style of the killing and wonder if the event has more in common with MidEastern style assassinations than a random antisemitic assault.

The violent attack on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza did more harm to Israel’s standing than any other single event. Despite vociferous Israeli claims about violent passengers, nine – and now ten – passengers were killed by the IDF. No soldier was killed by the peace activists. It was a miniature enactment of the disparity between Israeli violence against any form of support for Palestinians and that of the supporters. May 31 is the anniversary. Plus, restoring Gaza’s Ark after explosive sabotage.

Extracts and articles posted here to illustrate two points: the BDS movement has a renown far beyond its actual power and it has a wide range of powers and purposes attributed to it – from easing the conscience of individual consumers to destroying the state of Israel. It displays how much myth clouds the actual conflict between Palestinians and the Israeli state.

As neither Palestinians nor Israeli Jews are going away Gershon Baskin believes they will reach a peace settlement. New factors are Israel’s earned reputation as the unjust oppressor and the international recognition of Palestine as a political entity. The danger is a government that does not want peace and condones the determined attempt by IDF and settlers to provoke Palestinians into violence, which Baskin believes they must resist.

As the Israeli state’s budget for ground and naval forces is failing to keep up with the big spenders, money for spy and special operations has been significantly raised. Yet there is little will to invest any effort on finding the perpetrators of hate crimes against Palestinians.

The Palestinian prisoners who have, at moments, been given early release have been those sentenced to long terms for serious crimes. Four fifths of those in prison are not this category – they are individuals on the ‘assembly line’ of Palestinian men being fed into the prison system on minor charges.

Gimme Shelter is a song Palestinians might applaud; it’s unlikely many will be booking for the the Stones’ Tel Aviv gig (‘Money, that’s what I want’). Icons of the radical ’60s, the band swung the young with loud, rhythmic contempt for the suppression of desire. Now they are old and rich (like many of their fans) their machine for making money and adulation crushes all scruples.

In a thoughtful and admiring review of Diana Allan’s account of Palestinian life in Shatila refugee camp, Max Ijl recounts how the struggle for power lines has replaced the struggle for political power under the shelter of the rhetoric of return.

Victories for the far-right in the EU elections, despite their antisemitic record, have caused little concern in Israel writes Ben Caspit. It might boost immigration to Israel – and the far-right shares Israeli hostility to all things Muslim, including/despite the Islamic antisemitic strain.

Responsibility for the shooting of two teenage boys on Nakba day has been denied by the IDF who say the shooter may have been Palestinian, the video forged and anyway on that particular day the IDF was not using live ammunition. Patrick Strickland traces the path of the bullet.

By all accounts, the orchard in the valley, held by the Nasser family since long before Israel existed, with title deeds from the Ottomans to prove it, was a beautiful and fruitful place. The Tent of Nations bore the motto ‘We refuse to be enemies’. The illiterate IDF razed it. Your support – to protest, to reclaim the Nassers’ land – is called for.

Those of us who are concerned about actual cultures or incidences of antisemitism should be comforted by the findings of the ADL’s survey, trumpeted as a shocking finding of global antisemitism. With the help of the Wall Street Journal and Amira Hass we can find out what was skilfully omitted from the report.

Liberal Zionists, wherever they live, oppose all forms of Palestinian resistance including BDS and all means of forcing change on Israel. If they are relying on politicians in Israel or the US they are whistling in the wind – and everyone knows it. So why not do what Larry Derfner finally did – put aside defensiveness and support Palestinian resistance?

The Nakba should be taught on the curriculum of all Israel’s schools – how else are Israelis to understand their Palestinian neighbours says an editorial in Haaretz. Shlomo Avineri opposes the idea of the Nakba as the Palestinian founding myth – the event was not a catastrophe and was anyway self-inflicted. Shmuel Amir reviews and take issue.

We know who was shot dead in the Jewish museum in Brussels on Saturday, May 24th. We know the killer was one man wearing a baseball cap. In the blurry video he appears to be of white, European origin. Although antisemitism seems the obvious motive, nothing is actually known. Which hasn’t deterred confident condemnations of Muslims and European antisemitism. The news has hardly featured in the US where there was another college shooting at the same time, six dead. Or it could be an offshoot of right-wing xenophobia in the Euroelections.

Pope Francis surprised his entourage by stopping in Manger Square Bethlehem, and looking at, and touching, the separation wall. The limited number of Palestinians who could get permits to travel to Manger Square joined an open-air mass with him. He has invited the presidents of Palestine and Israel for prayers and talks in the Vatican.

A word has been coined to step forward from the arguments about whether the governance of the Palestinians is apartheid, S. Africa-style, colonialism, European-style or occupation, war-time style. An editorial in the Abu Dhabi-owned The National calls it Occupartheid to name the unique means of dispossessing Palestinians.

Predicting, threatening, waiting for a third intifada has been a motif in the analysis of Palestinian politics since the settlements became Israel’s primary project. Now Jamil Hilal gives his reasons why he thinks it can’t and won’t happen.

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